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Monarchs of France
Name Title Reign Dynasty Relation to predecessor Charles the Bald King of Western Francia 840-877 Carolingian Son of Emperor Louis the Pious Louis the Stammerer King of Western Francia 877-879 Carolingian Son of Charles the Bald Louis III King of Western Francia 879-882 Carolingian Son of Louis the Stammerer Carloman King of Western Francia 879-884 Carolingian Son of Louis the Stammerer Charles the Fat King of Western Francia 885-888 Carolingian First cousin once removed of Carloman Grandson of Emperor Louis the Pious Odo King of Western Francia 889-898 Robertian Fifth cousin once removed of Charles the Fat Charles the Simple King of Western Francia 893-922 Carolingian Son of Louis the Stammerer Robert I King of Western Francia 922-923 Robertian Brother of Odo Capetian Dynasty, Direct Capetians (987 to 1328) The Capetian Dynasty, the male-line descendants of Hugh Capet, ruled France continuously from 987 to 1792 and again from 1814 to 1848. The branches of the dynasty which ruled after 1328, however, are generally given the specific branch names of Valois and Bourbon. Not listed above are Hugh Magnus, eldest son of Robert II, and Philip of France, eldest son of Louis VI; both were co-Kings with their fathers (in accordance with the early Capetian practice whereby Kings would crown their heirs in their own lifetimes and share power with the co-king), but predeceased them. Because neither Hugh nor Philip were sole or senior king in their own lifetimes, they are not traditionally listed as Kings of France, and are not given ordinals. Capetian Dynasty, House of Valois (1328-1589) Valois (1328-1498) House of Lancaster (1422-1453) From 1422 Henry VI of England controlled much of northern France in accordance with the Plantagenet claim to the French crown, although Charles VII held sway over large areas south of the Loire River. Charles was crowned at Reims in 1429 and increasingly extended this dominion. By 1453, Henry had lost all French possessions except Calais, effectively putting an end to the Hundred Years' War. (See also main article:The Dual-Monarchy of England and France) Capetian Dynasty, Valois-Orléans Branch (1498-1515) Capetian Dynasty, Valois-Angoulême Branch (1515-1589) Capetian Dynasty, House of Bourbon (1589-1792) ''From January 21, 1793 to June 8, 1795, Louis XVI's son Louis-Charles was the titular King of France as 'Louis XVII; in reality, however, he was imprisoned in the Temple throughout this duration, and power was held by the leaders of the Republic. Upon Louis XVII's death, his uncle (Louis XVI's brother) Louis-Stanislas claimed the throne, as '''Louis XVIII, but only became de facto King of France in 1814.'' First Republic (1792-1804) The First French Republic lasted from 1792 to 1804, when its First Consul, Napoléon Bonaparte, declared himself Emperor of the French. Bonaparte Dynasty, First Empire (1804-1814) Capetian Dynasty, House of Bourbon, Restored (1814) Bonaparte Dynasty, First Empire, Restored (The Hundred Days, 1815) From June 22 to July 7, 1815, Bonapartists considered Napoleon I's son Napoleon II as the legitimate heir to the throne, his father having abdicated in his favor. However, the young child's reign was entirely fictional, as he was residing in Austria with his mother. Louis XVIII was reinstalled as king on July 7. Capetian Dynasty, House of Bourbon, Restored (1815-1830) The elder son and heir of Charles X, the Dauphin Louis-Antoine, is occasionally considered to have legally been the King of France as 'Louis XIX' in the 20 minutes that passed between Charles X's formal signature of abdication and the Dauphin's own signature. Henri d'Artois, Charles X's grandson, was considered by monarchists to be the titular King of France, as 'Henry V' from August 2, 1830 to August 9, 1830, but his reign remained largely fictional, as he acceeded in a revolutionary context and hence was never recognized by the French State. He is generally not accounted for in lists of official French monarchs. Capetian Dynasty, House of Bourbon-Orléans (The Monarchy of July 1830-1848) Second Republic (1848 - 1852) The Second French Republic lasted from 1848 to 1852, when its president, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, was declared Emperor of the French. Bonaparte Dynasty, Second Empire, Restored (1852-1870) Government of National Defence (Paris Commune 1870 - 1871) The transition period between the fall of the Second Empire after the capture of Napoleon III by the Prussians and the assumption of the Third Republic by General Louis Jules Trochu. Heads of State following 1871 The chronology of Head of State of France continues with the Presidents of the French Republic and short term interim periods by the Chief of State of the French State (1940–1944), the Chairman of the Provisional Government of the French Republic (1944–1946) and the president of the French Senate (1969 and 1974) during the Fifth Republic. Later pretenders Various pretenders descended from the preceding monarchs have claimed to be the legitimate monarch of France, rejecting the claims of the President of France, and of each other. These groups are: * Legitimist claimants to the throne of France—descendants of the Bourbons, rejecting all heads of state since 1830. Unionists recognized the Orléanist claimant after 1883. * Orléanist claimants to the throne of France—descendants of Louis-Phillippe, a cadet Bourbon, rejecting all heads of state since 1848. * Bonapartist claimants to the throne of France—descendants of Napoleon I and his brothers, rejecting all heads of state 1815–52, and since 1870. * Jacobite claimants to the throne of France—descendants of King Edward III of England and thus his claim to the French throne (renounced by Hanoverian King George III upon union with Ireland), also claiming Scotland, and Ireland. Notes References * Edward James, The Origins of France: Clovis to the Capetians 500-1000. ISBN 0-333-27052-5. * Edward James, The Franks. Blackwell: 1991. ISBN 0-631-17936-4. * The history of France as recounted in the Grandes Chroniques de France, and particularly in the personal copy produced for King Charles V between 1370 and 1380 that is the saga of the three great dynasties, the Merovingians, Carolingians, and the Capetian Rulers of France, that shaped the institutions and the frontiers of the realm. It should be noted that this work was commissioned at a time that France was embroiled in the Hundred Years' War with England, a war fought over hereditary claims to the throne of France. It must therefore be read with a careful eye toward biases meant to justify the Capetian claims of continuity and inheritance. * The Cambridge Illustrated History of France. Cambridge University Press. * Paul Fouracre and Richard A. Gerberding, Late Merovingian France: History and Hagiography, 640-720. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-4791-9. * Patrick Geary, Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World. Oxford: Oxford U. Press, 1988. ISBN 0-19-504458-4. * Patrick Geary, The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe. Princeton University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-691-11481-1.